


Take my hand and turn on the light

by Night_Queen3927



Series: Finding the Light [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Hospitalization, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, I Don't Even Know, I'm Bad At Tagging, Karma - Freeform, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Maybe - Freeform, One Shot, Trouble, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 04:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21207395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_Queen3927/pseuds/Night_Queen3927
Summary: Marinette has to leave the classroom to take care of some personal problems. Lila follows to take the opportunity to torment Marinette more.Lila takes things a step too far and everything collapses around her.





	Take my hand and turn on the light

**Author's Note:**

> This does have an open ending so that I can revisit the idea if I want to later. This serves as a secondary warning (the first was in the tags) so no complaining about it in the comments. If you do, I will laugh and point you to this note.
> 
> Disclaimer: seeing as I don't have any say in the show/own it, otherwise I wouldn't made some changes, it's a fairly safe bet that I don't own Miraculous Ladybug in any way. Short story, I'm not making money, just having some fun
> 
> Disclaimer #2: I am a chemistry student, I do not study law, national or international, nor do I want to. I used Professor Google and 15 minutes to make a bastardized version of whatever French law is along with international law and my countries laws. Please don't whine about it, I won't care.
> 
> Disclaimer #3: This does mention an assault, but it is not graphic and really is blink and miss it. The aftermath is also just touched on, hospital and blood mention but not graphic.

_Sometimes, a person is left in the dark in an unfamiliar environment. They will inevitably stumble around, banging their shins and toes on the furniture in the room, groping desperately for a wall or a source of light._

“Marinette? Can you hear me?” A gentle voice asked, concern laced throughout their voice.

With a groan, Marinette sat up, pressing a hand to forehead. Forcing her eyelids open, she let out a gasp, “I can’t see anything! Who are you?” Marinette pressed her back against the solid object behind her, irises darting back and forth in a vain attempt to make out anything in the room.

“I know, Marinette. You were knocked down a flight of stairs by a girl called Lila. You were severely injured by the fall and rushed to the hospital.” The owner of the gentle voice walked forward, each step accompanied by a soft clicking sound. They kneeled down by Marinette and hovered their hands over her knees, “Will you take my hand?” With a gasp and a muffled sob, Marinette grabbed ahold of the offered hands, clenching onto them with all of the strength in her body. With a gentle hum, their thumbs started stroking over the backs of Marinette’s hands, calming her down so that she wasn’t crying.

“What is your name?” Marinette asked between soft sniffles, tears leaking down her cheeks, red surrounding her gentle blue eyes.

“You can call me Kari.” The person answered in a quiet hum, a soft chuckle emanating from their chest.

“Where am I? Why am I here?” Marinette whispered, her voice shaky yet demanding answers. 

“You are here because of the girl Lila. When you were shoved down the stairs, you injured your head quite severely.” Kari answered, easily dodging the first question. “You were rushed to the hospital where they started treating you.”

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

“Mme. Mendeleiev, can I go to the restroom? I need to take care of some _personal_ issues.” Marinette emphasized her words, a hand wrapped around her stomach to apply pressure to her abdomen. A flash of pain darted across her face before she concealed it with her forever cheerful facade.

“Yes, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng. Hurry back to class though, we will be covering important material during this class.” Mme. Mendeleiev snapped, her personality refusing to allow her to show any softness, even to a young girl dealing with the trials of having a female body.

With permission granted, Marinette escaped from the hostile glares of her classmates, purse strap clutched in her hand. Ducking out of the doorway she made a beeline for the bathroom, passing by the staircase to get to the cleanest bathroom on campus

A malicious light flashing in her eyes, Lila raised her hand and simpered out, “Mme. Mendeleiev, I need to go to the restroom. I need to reapply the bandages that I got when I was helping build homes in Africa for children.”

“One of your classmates can escort you to the nurse’s office if you need your _bandages_ changed.” Mme. Mendeleiev snapped, knowing that Lila was lying but having no way of proving it.

“Oh, no. I couldn’t possibly inconceivence them. I can do it on my own.” Lila put on a wobbly lip and laced her voice with a hint of tears.

“C’mon, Mme. Mendeleiev.” Alya whined, immediately jumping to Lila’s defense. “Lila just needs to change it, and she wants to maintain her independence while doing so. It won’t take her that long. And Marinette’s in the bathroom so she can help if needed.”

Recognizing a losing battle when she saw one, Mme. Mendeleiev scoffed and turned back to the front of the classroom, continuing to sketch out Lewis Structures. “Mlle. Rossi, you can go. Be back in a timely fashion, or you will receive detention.”

“Thank you, Mme. Mendeleiev!” Lila chirped, her voice happy and pleased, but her eyes were alight with hatred and disgust. With that, Lila walked out of the classroom, her smile firmly affixed to her face. Once she was out of the classroom, she allowed the facade to drop, a sneer replacing the gentle smile that she previously wore. “What idiots. Now to find Marinette.”

Marinette, having finished taking care of her menstrual cycle requirements, started walking back to the classroom. As a particularly strong cramp shot through her body, Marinette stopped at the staircase, clinging to the railing as she bent over to attempt to alleviate the pain zinging through her body.

Spotting Marinette, Lila let out a short bark of laughter, before stalking over to corner Marinette in her current vulnerable state. “Oh, look. Someone let the poor Marinette out of her cage.”

With a gasp, Marinette spun around, one hand remaining latched onto the railing and the other curled around her stomach. “Lila. What do you want?”

“Just to make sure that you aren’t going to try anything. I figured that you could use a reminder of how easily I can destroy you.” Lila said, voice cold and menacing. She pressed a finger into Marinette’s shoulder. “I could tell Alya that you tied my bandages too tight, making it hard for me to breath. She would do all the work for me. I could say that you ignored my request for help.”

“Just stop it, Lila. Alya will learn about all your lies, and they’ll come down like a house of cards soon.” Marinette promised, her voice triumphant even as it was laced with pain.

Lila’s face twisted into an ugly snarl, her upper lip curled and her teeth bared. “You stupid girl.” She stomped closer, shoving her finger deeper into Marinette’s shoulder with each step. “I’ll keep these idiots dancing to my tune until I have had enough fun, then I’ll let them find out the truth and watch as they are miserable once they realize everything that they did.” Suddenly, Lila lashed out and shoved Marinette with both hands.

WIth a piercing shriek, Marinette lost her grip on the railing and tumbled down the stairs.

Doors slammed open along the hall, teachers and students alike pouring out to find out what had caused the ear-piercing noise.

Mme. Mendeleiev raced to the railing, eyes eagle-sharp and scanning for trouble. Once they landed on Marinette’s body sprawled at the base of the staircase and Lila standing on top of the staircase in one piece, Mme. Mendeleiev shouted, “Mlle. Rossi, don’t you move! Caline, call an ambulance, now!” She raced down the stairs, rolling up her sleeves on the way to start triage and first aid on Marinette.

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

“Kari?” Marinette asked, a hand groping in the dark to find Kari’s jawline. “Why is it so dark here? Can you turn on the light?”

“Not yet, Marinette. You need to wait a little longer until we can turn on a light.” Kari answered, confidently grabbing Marinette’s hand and lifting it to their jawline.

With a sigh, Marinette tipped her head forward so that she was pressing her head against Kari’s. “I’m tired of the dark. I just want the light on so that everything is visible and known.”

Kari hummed quietly, running a hand through Marinette’s loose hair. Their other hand stroked up and down Marinette’s back, a classic soothing motion that all people who took care of others knew. “I know, Marinette. I know.”

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

Mme. Mendeleiev stood at the entrance to the school, her eyes glassy and locked on the ambulance shrieking its alarm as it made its way to the hospital. Her hands were trembling by her side, liberally coated with blood. As the white ambulance started to vanish from sight, a trembling hand was raised so that it was eye level with Mme. Mendeleiev. A singular tear leaked from Mme. Mendeleiev’s eye and curved a path over her cheekbones and down her jawline. With a cold and steady voice, Mme. Mendeleiev started giving orders. “Caline, gather all the students and take them to the gym. M. Damocles, please accompany Caline and address the student body.” With those two orders given, the students were herded into the gym, the teachers on the edges to ensure that all the students went into the gym. Quick as a snake, Mme. Mendeleiev flashed her arm out so that it was barring Lila Rossi from joining the throng of students. “Not you, Mlle. Rossi. You and I will be having a discussion with the police since you were the only ones who saw Mlle. Dupain-Cheng before she went down the staircase.” 

Lila’s eyes went wide. She had made a point of never doing anything that could get the police involved, because while she had diplomatic immunity courtesy of her mother, it could get waived because her mother was not a vital diplomat. That meant that the Italian government would prefer to allow the French Judicial system to take care of any illegal actions so that the relationship remains solid and cordial. Panicking a bit, Lila started to stammer out protests and attempts to delay the inevitable, “Mme. Mendeleiev, I cannot talk to the police without my mother with me. Un-unfortunately, she is currently out of the country, communicating with her superior.” Lila was scrambling, trying to pull out reasons why she couldn’t see the police.

“I am aware of that, Mlle. Rossi. I will take you to the police station where I will then call the Italian embassy and ask them to temporarily waive your immunity so that you can talk with the police and send your guardian back. Don’t worry, this will all be done before the end of the day.” Mme. Mendeleiev had an almost invisible smirk on her face, eager to finally topple the house of lies that the foolish girl had built as well as figuring out how Marinette had ended up at the base of the stairs. Mme. Mendeleiev knew that while Marinette was clumsy, she would never fall down the stairs, she always held on the railings so that if she slipped, it was only a few steps.

Deftly blocked by Mme. Mendeleiev, Lila gave up. She knew that as a student in the school, the teacher had _in loco parentis_ which meant that while her guardian was unavailable, they could decide on where to take her as long as it didn’t violate her rights. That meant that Mme. Mendeleiev had the legal right to bring Lila to the police station as a safe place to stay while waiting for her mother to come as long as the police didn’t try and interrogate her.

____________________

At the police station, Mme. Mendeleiev ordered Lila to sit down in a chair where she could keep an eye on her. Pulling out her phone, Mme. Mendeleiev called the Italian embassy. With every sentence that she spoke, Mme. Mendeleiev’s face grew stonier and colder. Finally finishing her conversation, Mme. Mendeleiev slipped her phone back into her pocket and faced Lila. “Mlle. Rossi, the embassy informed me that your mother has not left the country for 2 years and that she is actually in Paris right now. I was then transferred over to her, and found much to my surprise that she was under the belief that Collège Françoise Dupont was closed due to the rash of Akuma attacks. Mme. Rossi will be coming here to be present during your interview with the police and another representative of the embassy will be here as a lawyer”

____________________

“How could you do this, Lila!” Benigna Rossi cried, fists clenching and unclenching. “Do you understand the position that you have put the Italian government and me in!” She glared at Lila, disappointment evident. “Not only have you missed months of school, you are being charged with assault!”

“I didn’t do anything! I barely touched her!” Lila shouted. “I just poked her! It’s not my fault that she fell down the stairs!”

“You foolish girl! The school has cameras in the classrooms, hallways and courtyards! They caught you shoving her at the top of the stairs and doing nothing to stop her from falling! After that, they went over the other footage!” Benigna Rossi shouted back, her hands clutching at her hair. “The embassy has decided to revoke your immunity as the daughter of a diplomat! You can and will be prosecuted under French law! That means that you can be put into a juvenile detention center in Paris, or forbidden from ever coming back.”

“They can’t do that!” Lila snapped, outraged and furious at the loss of her protection. “I’m your daughter! I have immunity!”

“You broke the law, both French national law as well as international law! If the Italian government didn’t do something to make amends for the _daughter_ of a _Italian diplomat_ harming a _French schoolgirl_.” Benigna whipped her arm out, gesticulating furiously. Her hands clenched and unclenched into a claw shape. “The Italian government has the right to take your immunity away and all but is required to in order to not be sanctioned by the other countries in the world!”

____________________

“Everyone, please listen.” Mme. Bustier said, her face drawn and pale. “I regret to inform you that Mlle. Dupain-Cheng is in the hospital, undergoing surgery. The doctors are not sure when she’ll wake up and what condition she be in after waking.”

“Mme. Bustier!” Alya shouted, standing up to grab attention. “What about Lila? When will she be back?”

“Um, Lila, she is-” Mme. Bustier fumbled for the words, not knowing how to inform her students of the fate of their classmate.

“Mlle. Rossi has been expelled from Collège Françoise Dupont. She is currently being charged with criminal assault, truancy, and slander.” Mme. Mendeleiev curtly informed the students, sweeping into the gym with the grace and presence of royalty. “The police determined that she was responsible for pushing Marinette down the stairs, thus leading to the assault charge. That she lied to the school about her whereabouts during the time that she wasn’t attending school and informed her guardian that the school was closed due to akuma attacks, meaning that she committed truancy. A very severe form of truancy in which even if she was kept in Collège Françoise Dupont, she would still be held back a least a year for her lack of knowledge. Her charge of slander is due to the fact that she knowingly lied about several facts regarding public figures which could harm their reputations if the lies became widely known.”

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

“Hey, Marinette?” Kari asked, voice gentle and hands soothing.

“Yes, Kari?” Marinette brushed tears away from her eyes, guided by her knowledge of her own body.

“What do you want to do now? We can stay here, we can go to a meadow to watch butterflies and animals, we can go find the light, or something else.

Marinette started to answer the question, “I think that I want to-”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this, and that it was worth the read.
> 
> As always, if I screwed up with formatting/grammar/editing/spelling/whatever else I don't know, feel free to tell me. I'm nice(ish) and don't bite.
> 
> I do have some ideas for the future of this one-shot, but I always welcome more ideas. It might make it into later one-shots


End file.
